Clarence Jones – Mr. Radio

One June day, after playing for an evening service, Clarence heard about something that would forever change his life! A preacher named Paul Rader spoke with Clarence and other band members about a new opportunity for them to share the Gospel. The mayor had recently spoken with Paul about providing musicians for a new radio station starting in Chicago, and he wanted to know if Clarence and the quartet would be willing to play. They said, of course, they would be willing to help, so one day, they went to a small booth on the roof of City Hall and played a few songs, and then pastor Paul preached.

At the time, radio was new and relatively unknown, so Clarence was surprised by the number of phone calls they received after playing and the preaching. Many people requested other songs to play and wanted to know when Paul was going to preach again.
They were soon broadcasting on the radio each Sunday for fourteen hours straight and daily from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM. Clarence became the program director and had to line up preachers and music to cover their broadcast hours every week.

In addition to his work with the radio, Clarence soon began taking on other responsibilities at his church Chicago Gospel Tabernacle. He ran children’s ministries at the church as well as a conference center the church had bought. There were over five thousand members at the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, so running these ministries was no small task!

One night in a meeting at the conference center, Clarence felt God touch his heart and that God wanted him to be a missionary after hearing a message on missions. He went to the altar at the end of the service and committed himself to missionary service. A few nights later, while listening to a missionary couple, he heard a voice saying to him, “Arise and go south—with radio.”

Although it was evident in his mind that God wanted them to be missionaries, his wife Katherine had also made it quite clear since their marriage that she had no intentions of being a missionary. Clarence was worried about what he should do because he knew that he would not be able to go as a missionary without his wife and family. He was concerned about what she was going to say to him when he told her that God wanted them to be missionaries. Thankfully, when he asked his wife about what she would think about being a missionary, she got up from her chair and walked around the table to Clarence. She wrapped her arms around him. “It’s all right, dear,” she said gently. “Last night, when I was putting the girls to bed, and you were at the service, the Lord came to me, and He asked me very plainly, ‘Katherine, will you go?’”

God had confirmed that he wanted them to be missionaries, but the question was now. “Where should they go?”

This blog post is part of a series about the life of Clarence Jones. Click here if you would like to read the previous post in this series. 

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